Saturday, November 26, 2016

Chone Figgins started out as a utilityman, too, but he became so much more. Drafted as a shortstop, he moved second base in the minors, and in his rookie year, 2003, he played second, short, left and center. The following year, he was switched to third, a position he had barely played as a professional, and he wound up spending more time there than at any other position in his career, though he received more than 190 starts each at second and in center, and more than 15 starts at shortstop and ...

Coming off an MVP campaign in the elite proving ground that is the Arizona Fall League, Gleyber Torres is in line for a promotion.

The Yankees plan on assigning their second-ranked prospect to Double-A Trenton to start the 2017 season.

“He’s never played above the Florida State [League],” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told the New York Post. “Next year, he’ll start at Trenton and get introduced to the cold weather of the Eastern League in April for the first time. He’ll be ready ...

It’s hard to fathom why the Mariners would deal a starting pitcher with as much promise as Walker has, especially when his 2016 struggles can be attributed to his foot issues, which were addressed with surgery in October. It’s even more difficult to understand, given how tight the starting pitching market is this offseason, until you consider that defense was the Mariners’ biggest weakness this past season. Their shortstop defense, in particular, was one ...

I don’t really see the point of just dumping him. He’s not star but he’s a serviceable, usable player when healthy and in decent shape. Bring him in, try to rebuild some of his value and *then* trade him if Moncada or Devers is ready.

At least internally, the Giants have considered a reunion with third baseman Pablo Sandoval, a baseball source told the Herald.

How motivated the Red Sox should be to trade Sandoval depends on two other questions: how well do they believe the third baseman can ...

The winning name submission came from Nicole, of Binghamton. Her inspiration for Rumble Ponies came from “The Carousel,” a children’s book written by Binghamton University professor Liz Rosenberg about carousel horses that sleep in the winter, but come to life in the spring. Nicole was awarded season tickets for life and the first home jersey produced for winning the Name the Team Contest.

Dave “Boo” Ferriss, the Red Sox righthander who as staff ace helped pitch the team to the American League pennant in 1946, then saw his career cut short by a shoulder injury, died Thursday at his home in Cleveland, Miss. He was 94.

The other new Carolina League club now has a name and location attached to it as well: the Buies Creek Astros. This central North Carolina town, which has a population of approximately 3,000, is home to Campbell University. The Buies Creek Astros will play at the university’s Jim Perry Stadium, which was built in the 1940s and is being renovated so it seats some 2,000 fans. The facility will be shared with Campbell University’s Fighting Camels baseball team, with scheduling conflicts pushing ...

Moving forward to 2017, the Braves secured someone they could plug in at second base and immediately see top-level production. Through the adjustments he made in his swing, Rodriguez could be considered a 20 home run threat for at least 2017. If he continues to provide the above-average defense he’s known for, Rodriguez could provide the type of value that will make him the free agent bargain of the offseason.

“He’s just ridiculously good. He was clearly the best player in the league. It seemed like he hit a line drive every time up.’’

A scout for a major league team who hadn’t seen Torres since May, when he was still in the Cubs’ farm system, offered a similarly glowing report after observing him in the AFL, which concluded Saturday.

“He’s progressing at an advanced rate,’’ the scout said. “The more you see him, the more impressed you are with his ...

While there is a lineup spot open for Bird in New York, it seems that outfielder Jorge Soler is not a fit with the Chicago Cubs.

Soler’s best chance for playing time in 2017 is likely to be the short side of a platoon in left field with left-handed-hitting Kyle Schwarber. Jason Heyward and Albert Almora Jr. are likely to platoon in center field while Ben Zobrist would be the everyday right fielder and Matt Szczur would serve as the fifth outfielder.

“When you have a core you have identified, you want to give them a chance because nothing is guaranteed in this sport, including winning,” Houston manger A.J. Hinch said by phone.
...
The Cubs’ decision making has been better, most notably with Houston taking Mark Appel with the first pick in the 2013 draft and Chicago following with Bryant (imagine an infield with Bryant, Correa and Altuve) and in 2014 when the Astros took Brady Aiken with the first overall pick (he did not sign) and the ...

Let me spend time writing about something too dumb and not important enough to discuss. Really?

What’s dispiriting is how complicit smart people are in their own dumbing down. Play sports, watch sports, talk sports, care about sports. That’s all great. But not if you begin to think that sports and how they turn out explains something vital about your culture. They only do that if you choose not to pay attention to anything else.

Roid rage, an outburst of temper, is a byproduct of steroid use. Belle was always mad at somebody. If he wasn’t cursing at reporters, he was taking a bat to the postgame meal or a teammate’s boom box. Fury always seemed to be close at hand with Belle.

After he retired, Belle was asked if he ever used steroids. He said simply, “No, I was just an angry black man.”

Baseball’s owners and players have talked about expanding rosters to 26 men as part of the collective bargaining agreement negotiations. If they do so without limitations on pitcher usage, it will be the worst thing to happen to the sport since Astroturf and threaten to end the game’s period of record growth.

I’ve been telling you for years that relief pitching is an internal threat to baseball’s appeal. The growing inventory of pitchers with ...

Thursday, November 24, 2016

This photograph makes me so happy. It was taken at the White House, of course, on the day that 21 people received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I first saw it on Vin Scully’s Instagram page. I am thankful that Vin Scully has an Instagram page.

Joe Posnanski isn’t as generally revered here as he once was, but dude can write a personal essay.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Speaking as someone who spent a couple years of his life working on a WAR system before WAR was cool, too many people put too much credence in WAR. Too many don’t put enough. It’s something nice to look at and works well for a lot of different questions. Despite what some think, even with the advances in technology, it will always be just a reflection of reality. And that’s OK.

“One might assume.” One might assume that, if Martin Perez’s WARs are 1.8, 1.8 and 1.9 (as they were in 2016), that ...

Two sources who had spoken with both sides told ESPN.com on Wednesday that they now sense there is “a path to a deal,” following negotiations Tuesday that stretched into the night.

Owners and the players’ union have been hung up for weeks over several major issues, most notably an international draft, the elimination of draft-pick compensation for teams that sign free agents and a new luxury tax/revenue-sharing formula.

3. Eloy Jimenez, OF, Mesa (Cubs No. 2): Another precocious 19-year-old, Jimenez wasn’t as spectacular in Arizona as he was when he starred at the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and won the Class A Midwest League MVP award this summer. Yet he still exhibited as high a power ceiling as any Fall Leaguer, with scouts comparing his upside with Giancarlo Stanton’s.

On Monday morning, the government filed its witness list in the case of the United States of America vs. Bart Hernandez. Among the 77 men and women it hopes will testify in federal court are some of the most high-profile Cubans in baseball today, including Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu. The smuggling of men like Abreu is the impetus behind the government’s prosecution of Hernandez, a longtime player agent now accused of trafficking baseball players from Cuba to the United States. ...

Those are the things I am going to remember. In 50 years, when people say the name David Ortiz, I don’t care if people know my numbers. It would be great to be remembered as a Hall of Famer, but let me tell you what I really care about.…

I hope people remember me as a guy who brought people together and brought a lot of fun to the game.

This game is supposed to be fun, right?

I remember when I first came to this country, I noticed that in America, people only hug when bad things happen. ...

Tyrus Cobb, the Detroit baseball star, has succumbed to alluring inducements of a motion picture company. The Georgian’s first film will soon be released, it is understood. According to trustworthy information, Tyrus gave the director very little trouble when the play—a baseball story—was being filmed, until he was asked to make love to the heroine. Cobb, it is claimed, absolutely refused to indulge in Graeco-Roman tactics, so that part of his performance ...

What it really comes down to, though, is why should they care? In many cases, the style of hiring that teams are used to has had decent-to-great results, with the best-case scenario being the two front offices that just made the World Series. As we discussed in our previous work, there are studies that suggest in the “outside” business world, increased diversity in the workplace does lead to higher success for the company, but there have been no such studies in the small and rarefied world ...